Tag Archives: Immune

Gut Health: How it Affects the Immune System

Your gut health has a huge effect on your quality of life. When our gut microbiome is healthy we barely think about it, when it’s not we are miserable and more susceptible to illness. Trillions of invisible, microorganisms live inside your body. Our entire lives are spent with them crawling around in us. Most are… Read More »

BCG vaccine helps fight infections by boosting immune cell production

By Layal Liverpool BCG vaccine (red, lower left) infecting a human white blood cell (green)NIBSC/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY The BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin) tuberculosis vaccine boosts the production of immune cells, which may explain why it can protect newborn babies from dying of sepsis. Previous studies have shown that BCG vaccination can protect newborns against a broad… Read More »

How to boost your immune system

How does the immune system work? According to the website, the first line of defence against infections is your body’s skin and mucous membranes. It explains: “If pathogens manage to get through these barriers, they encounter special white blood cells present in your bloodstream. “There are different types of white cells, called neutrophils (polymorphs), lymphocytes,… Read More »

Can You Become Immune to the Coronavirus?

As the number of people infected with the coronavirus surpasses 450,000 worldwide, and more than one billion are locked in their homes, scientists are wrestling with one of the most pressing questions of the pandemic: Do people who survive the infection become immune to the virus? The answer is a qualified yes, with some significant… Read More »

Measles has a devastating and long-term effect on your immune system

By Debora MacKenzie The MMR vaccine protects against measlesJIM WEST/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Measles is known to make children vulnerable to other infections. Now two major studies of Dutch Orthodox Protestants, who reject vaccination, have discovered why: it massively damages the immune system, making measles even more lethal than we realised. That is bad news, as… Read More »

HIV Used to Treat “Bubble Boy” Immune Deficiency

HIV is well known for causing immune deficiency, but in a new twist, researchers have used a disabled form of the virus to deliver gene therapy that successfully treated children with inherited immune system impairment. Researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis tested the experimental approach in eight infants with severe combined immunodeficiency… Read More »